TheOriginOf.com

IIFA

July 25, 2007 – 8:33 pm

IIFA is the International Indian Film Academy. It has also been known as Electrolux Kelvinator IIFA (2002), Kelvinator IIFA and Samsung IIFA (2003-2005). Its objective is promoting Indian Cinema across the globe. Achievements in the Indian film world and of Asians in international movie world are honoured. It binds the Indians across the globe. Internationally it plays the vita role of opening up minds and building bridges between social and economic islands to create a one-world mindset leading to a harmony more powerful than politics and war.

The three founder-directors of IIFA came from different walks of life. Andre Timmins started off as a disc jockey and landed up in Xanadu, the famous nightclub of Mumbai. Viraf Sarkari a professional in hotel management joined him at Xanadu. Sabbas Joseph coming from the world of political science and journalism completed the triad.

IIFA is the first such attempt of its type in India. Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. India, event management as well as entertainment agency has given the lead in this field. For this purpose every year awards are given out. The happening takes place in a different country to honour the creative and technical merit of those connected with Indian film world. The voting process is transparent as chalked out by the IIFA management in conjunction with Price Waterhouse Coppers Pvt. Ltd. Fans vote via MSN. There are two groups – Popular Awards and Technical Awards. It is a four-day bonanza in an exotic locale, which enchants the host country with press meetings, parties, movie premiers, business pow-wow and special events. The show was kicked off for the first time in 2000 in London at the Millennium Dome. In the following year till 2007 the happenings happened in Sun City (South Africa), Genting Highlands (Malaysia), Johannesburg (South Africa), Singapore, Amsterdam (Netherlands), Dubai (UAE) and Yorkshire (UK).

India is a geographical cocktail consisting of various languages and shades of culture. With the passage of time Indians with their culture have spilled over to every corner of the globe. Today the pundits of Indian music and yoga have become household names globally apart from being incorporated in the English dictionary. Cinema is making all this possible with speed and aplomb.

Cinema is entertainment. In the harsh world of survival, Man with his sensitive susceptibilities has found in entertainment a release for pent up tensions. Unlike animals entertainment has always been vital to Man’s psyche. In depictions of ancient tribal dances the performer flaunts feathers and skins of animals as they mime the steps of the animals and incidents of life. Entertainment can take on many forms from simple story telling to dance, songs and plays. In due course the world of entertainment became more sophisticated with advancement in technology. This storytelling reached its peak with the invention of talking-movies. The television has made it more affordable and universal. But the rule of thumb remains the same – art must depict life and not vice versa.

Indian cinema gravitates around Bollywood. It is an informal reference to the Hindi films based in Mumbai. The world is not yet familiar with the other regional films. Bollywood dominates the scene. The name is a concoction of ‘Bombay’ (the previous name of Mumbai) of ‘Hollywood’. Many are not happy about making the giant Indian film industry playing second fiddle to its American counterpart. But the name is stuck and found its niche in the Oxford Dictionary.

The predominant language in Bollywood films is Hindu or rather Hindustani. In the latter variety Urdu has a prominent part. English too has crept in. In recent years a tendency has grown to dub films in more than one language. This has made films more pan Indian and international.

It is not without reason that IIFA events are hosted in new countries each year because Indians comprise of a sizeable population in the Western world. Indian culture is very much interwoven in the fabric of South East Asia and being incorporated warmly in other parts of the world including the Arab world, Israel and lately Africa and Afghanistan.

This year the IIFA awards were staged at Yorkshire County. A hiccup was that the Tamil super star, Rajnikanth was not present. None other than the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, the IIFA ambassador, offered him a very special award this year. But Rajnikanth by nature shies away from awards and the like. Perhaps he was busy at home with the release of his blockbuster Sivaji – the Boss.

The 8th IIFA was held at Hallam, Sheffield. The winner was Mehra’s Raang De Bsanti – a politico-musical treat with Amir Khan as the hero. Apart from being the best film it also bagged awards for best screenplay, supporting actress and musical direction. It snatched 7 other prizes in the technical field but failed in the Popular Awards.

Hirani was given the trophy for being the best director in Lage Raho Munnabhai. It was also considered to be the best story having the best dialogue. Hrithik Roshan got the best actor award for his performance in Krrish. Rani Mukherji got the prize for being the best actress (Kabhi Alvida Naa Mehna) and Arshad Warsi took the award for being the best supporting actor (Lage Raho Munnabhai). The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the legendary Basu Chatterjee for his contribution to direction, producing and screen writing. The fans went hysterical when Dharmendra too was bagged this honour.

IIFA has the distinction of recognizing zones that are usually neglected but yet play a vital role in the industry – the comedian, negative actors and playback singers. Aishwarya Rai was considered to be the most glamorous and Hrithik Roshan for being its male hunky counterpart. Deepa Mehta was recognized for her contribution to the International film world with ‘Water’. Ten thousand fans gathered at Hallam to watch the stars participating in a Walk for the environment. Thousands more stayed glued to the television. Amitabha performed a duet with is son. County officials are hoping to rope in 10 million pounds from this tourist splurge.